This benefit concert, featuring Dr. Cheryl Karcher and Ken Block and Drew Copeland of Sister Hazel, will support the UF Collegiate Recovery Community (UFCRC). The concert will kick off the 5th Annual Southeastern CRC Summit hosted by the UF Counseling and Wellness Center.

The Southeastern Collegiate Recovery Community Summit is a yearly event focused on collaboration between colleges and universities in the Southeast to best support students in recovery and to celebrate recovery successes. Students and staff have opportunities to network and share their experiences.

“I am so grateful to Life of Purpose for sponsoring our Evening for Collegiate Recovery,” said Joan Scully, LCSW, Clinical Assistant Professor and Coordinator of Alcohol and Other Drug Services at the University of Florida. “This event will help bring awareness to the solution focused efforts on campus to help students who are in recovery or looking for help with substance use disorders. It is a great honor and privilege to be on the campus where I found recovery, to bring these students the support they deserved to have a normal college experience so they do not have to choose between being in recovery and being a Gator.”

Ken Block and Drew Copeland, best known as two of the five members of the platinum-selling southern rock band Sister Hazel, will bring their wildly successful tunes to an intimate acoustic show, reminiscent of their earlier performance days when they canvassed the club and coffee shop circuit as a duo from Gainesville, Florida. Block has been prolific in the studio and at live shows. He often remarks how his recovery is instrumental to his success.

Keynote speaker Dr. Cheryl Karcher, whose journey to recovery was recently featured in the New York Times will also be taking the stage on May 10th.

Dr. Karcher has been a frequent dermatology expert on the Rachel Ray show, The View, The Doctors, CNN, CBS news and the Dr. Oz Show. On July 9, 2014, Dr. Karcher was very publically arrested in front of her Park Avenue office in New York City. On July 23, 2017, the New York Times showcased the story of her comeback in the Sunday Styles section. Her story is compelling and inspiring.

“It is with tremendous gratitude that we support both this conference and the collegiate recovery community here at the University of Florida,” stated Andrew Burki, MSW, Founder and CEO of Life of Purpose Treatment. “We, unfortunately, find ourselves in the midst of a health pandemic that is decimating the youth of this country. The belief that it is too expensive to change the environments of emerging adults with substance use disorders and that we must therefore simply remove the young people from those environments is nothing short of the wholesale betrayal of our children’s future. The significance of UF taking a stand on behalf of these young people and their families cannot be overstated. These aren’t criminals, these are students and it is our collective responsibility to provide environments conducive to their success as students. UF and every single school with a collegiate recovery community is, quite simply, the solutions to the greatest problem facing an entire generation of American youth.”

The University of Florida was the first in the state to develop an academic progression program that aims to provide a safe, healthy, welcoming environment for students to cultivate life skills and celebrate recovery successes.

The formal mission of the UFCRC is “to provide a supportive community where students in recovery can achieve academic successes while enjoying a genuine college experience free from alcohol and drugs.”

This event is open to the public, but space is limited. Tickets are $25 for general admission and $15 for students. Click here to learn more about An Evening for Collegiate Recovery and to purchase tickets.